OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
An Input-Output Approach to Structured Stochastic Uncertainty in Continuous Time
Venue: arXiv cs.SY 2018
Year: 2018

We consider the continuous-time setting of linear time-invariant (LTI) systems in feedback with multiplicative stochastic uncertainties. The objective of the paper is to characterize the conditions of Mean-Square Stability (MSS) using a purely input-output approach, i.e. without having to resort to state space realizations. This has the advantage of encompassing a wider class of models (such as infinite dimensional systems and systems with delays). The input-output approach leads to uncovering new tools such as stochastic block diagrams that have an intimate connection with the more general Stochastic Integral Equations (SIE), rather than Stochastic Differential Equations (SDE). Various stochastic interpretations are considered, such as Itō and Stratonovich, and block diagram conversion schemes between different interpretations are devised. The MSS conditions are given in terms of the spectral radius of a matrix operator that takes different forms when different stochastic interpretations are considered.
Accuracy Analysis for Distributed Weighted Least-Squares Estimation in Finite Steps and Loopy Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.MA 2018
Year: 2018

Distributed parameter estimation for large-scale systems is an active research problem. The goal is to derive a distributed algorithm in which each agent obtains a local estimate of its own subset of the global parameter vector, based on local measurements as well as information received from its neighbours. A recent algorithm has been proposed, which yields the optimal solution (i.e., the one that would be obtained using a centralized method) in finite time, provided the communication network forms an acyclic graph. If instead, the graph is cyclic, the only available alternative algorithm, which is based on iterative matrix inversion, achieving the optimal solution, does so asymptotically. However, it is also known that, in the cyclic case, the algorithm designed for acyclic graphs produces a solution which, although non optimal, is highly accurate. In this paper we do a theoretical study of the accuracy of this algorithm, in communication networks forming cyclic graphs. To this end, we provide bounds for the sub-optimality of the estimation error and the estimation error covariance, for a class of systems whose topological sparsity and signal-to-noise ratio satisfy certain condition. Our results show that, at each node, the accuracy improves exponentially with the so-called loop-free depth. Also, although the algorithm no longer converges in finite time in the case of cyclic graphs, simulation results show that the convergence is significantly faster than that of methods based on iterative matrix inversion. Our results suggest that, depending on the loop-free depth, the studied algorithm may be the preferred option even in applications with cyclic communication graphs.
SSIMLayer: Towards Robust Deep Representation Learning via Nonlinear Structural Similarity
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2018
Year: 2018

Deeper convolutional neural networks provide more capacity to approximate complex mapping functions. However, increasing network depth imposes difficulties on training and increases model complexity. This paper presents a new nonlinear computational layer of considerably high capacity to the deep convolutional neural network architectures. This layer performs a set of comprehensive convolution operations that mimics the overall function of the human visual system (HVS) via focusing on learning structural information in its input. The core of its computations is evaluating the components of the structural similarity metric (SSIM) in a setting that allows the kernels to learn to match structural information. The proposed SSIMLayer is inherently nonlinear and hence, it does not require subsequent nonlinear transformations. Experiments conducted on CIFAR-10 benchmark demonstrates that the SSIMLayer provides better convergence than the traditional convolutional layer, bypasses the need for nonlinear transformations and shows more robustness against noise perturbations and adversarial attacks.
Breaking the Limits in Urban Video Monitoring: Massive Crowd Sourced Surveillance over Vehicles
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2018
Year: 2018

Contemporary urban environments are in prompt need of means for intelligent decision-making, where a crucial role belongs to smart video surveillance systems. While existing deployments of stationary monitoring cameras already deliver notable societal benefits, the proposed concept of massive video surveillance over connected vehicles that we contribute in this paper may further augment these important capabilities. We therefore introduce the envisioned system concept, discuss its implementation, outline the high-level architecture, and identify major data flows, while also offering insights into the corresponding design and deployment aspects. Our conducted case study confirms the potential of the described crowd sourced vehicular system to effectively complement and eventually surpass even the best of today's static video surveillance setups. We expect that our proposal will become of value and integrate seamlessly into the future Internet-of-Things landscape, thus enabling a plethora of advanced urban applications.
Cyber-Physical Specification Mismatches
Venue: arXiv cs.SY 2018
Year: 2018

Embedded systems use increasingly complex software and are evolving into cyber-physical systems (CPS) with sophisticated interaction and coupling between physical and computational processes. Many CPS operate in safety-critical environments and have stringent certification, reliability, and correctness requirements. These systems undergo changes throughout their lifetimes, where either the software or physical hardware is updated in subsequent design iterations. One source of failure in safety-critical CPS is when there are unstated assumptions in either the physical or cyber parts of the system, and new components do not match those assumptions. In this work, we present an automated method towards identifying unstated assumptions in CPS. Dynamic specifications in the form of candidate invariants of both the software and physical components are identified using dynamic analysis (executing and/or simulating the system implementation or model thereof). A prototype tool called Hynger (for HYbrid iNvariant GEneratoR) was developed that instruments Simulink/Stateflow (SLSF) model diagrams to generate traces in the input format compatible with the Daikon invariant inference tool, which has been extensively applied to software systems. Hynger, in conjunction with Daikon, is able to detect candidate invariants of several CPS case studies. We use the running example of a DC-to-DC power converter, and demonstrate that Hynger can detect a specification mismatch where a tolerance assumed by the software is violated due to a plant change. Another case study of an automotive control system is also introduced to illustrate the power of Hynger and Daikon in automatically identifying cyber-physical specification mismatches.
Scale Space Approximation in Convolutional Neural Networks for Retinal Vessel Segmentation
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2018
Year: 2018

Retinal images have the highest resolution and clarity among medical images. Thus, vessel analysis in retinal images may facilitate early diagnosis and treatment of many chronic diseases. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-scale residual convolutional neural network structure based on a \emph{scale-space approximation (SSA)} block of layers, comprising subsampling and subsequent upsampling, for multi-scale representation. Through analysis in the frequency domain, we show that this block structure is a close approximation of Gaussian filtering, the operation to achieve scale variations in scale-space theory. Experimental evaluations demonstrate that the proposed network outperforms current state-of-the-art methods. Ablative analysis shows that the SSA is indeed an important factor in performance improvement.
On the model-checking-based IDS
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2018
Year: 2018

How to identify the comprehensive comparable performance of various Intrusion Detection (ID) algorithms which are based on the Model Checking (MC) techniques? To address this open issue, we conduct some tests for the model-checking-based intrusion detection systems (IDS) algorithms. At first, Linear Temporal Logic (LTL), Interval Temporal Logic (ITL) and Real-time Attack Signature Logic (RASL) are employed respectively to establish formula models for twenty-four types of attacks. And then, a standard intrusion set, called Intrusion Set for Intrusion Detection based on Model Checking (ISIDMC) is constructed. On the basis of it, detection abilities and efficiency of the intrusion detection algorithms based on model checking the three logics mentioned above are compared exhaustively
A Transferable Pedestrian Motion Prediction Model for Intersections with Different Geometries
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2018
Year: 2018

This paper presents a novel framework for accurate pedestrian intent prediction at intersections. Given some prior knowledge of the curbside geometry, the presented framework can accurately predict pedestrian trajectories, even in new intersections that it has not been trained on. This is achieved by making use of the contravariant components of trajectories in the curbside coordinate system, which ensures that the transformation of trajectories across intersections is affine, regardless of the curbside geometry. Our method is based on the Augmented Semi Nonnegative Sparse Coding (ASNSC) formulation and we use that as a baseline to show improvement in prediction performance on real pedestrian datasets collected at two intersections in Cambridge, with distinctly different curbside and crosswalk geometries. We demonstrate a 7.2% improvement in prediction accuracy in the case of same train and test intersections. Furthermore, we show a comparable prediction performance of TASNSC when trained and tested in different intersections with the baseline, trained and tested on the same intersection.
Context-Aware Pedestrian Motion Prediction In Urban Intersections
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2018
Year: 2018

This paper presents a novel context-based approach for pedestrian motion prediction in crowded, urban intersections, with the additional flexibility of prediction in similar, but new, environments. Previously, Chen et. al. combined Markovian-based and clustering-based approaches to learn motion primitives in a grid-based world and subsequently predict pedestrian trajectories by modeling the transition between learned primitives as a Gaussian Process (GP). This work extends that prior approach by incorporating semantic features from the environment (relative distance to curbside and status of pedestrian traffic lights) in the GP formulation for more accurate predictions of pedestrian trajectories over the same timescale. We evaluate the new approach on real-world data collected using one of the vehicles in the MIT Mobility On Demand fleet. The results show 12.5% improvement in prediction accuracy and a 2.65 times reduction in Area Under the Curve (AUC), which is used as a metric to quantify the span of predicted set of trajectories, such that a lower AUC corresponds to a higher level of confidence in the future direction of pedestrian motion.
Eco-Route: Recommending Economical Driving Routes For Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2018
Year: 2018

High fuel consumption cost results in drivers' economic burden. Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) consume two fuel sources (i.e., gasoline and electricity energy sources) with floating prices. To reduce drivers' total fuel cost, recommending economical routes to them becomes one of the effective methods. In this paper, we present a novel economical path-planning framework called Eco-Route, which consists of two phases. In the first phase, we build a driving route cost model (DRCM) for each PHEV (and driver) under the energy management strategy, based on driving condition and vehicles' parameters. In the second phase, with the real-time traffic information collected via the mobile crowdsensing manner, we are able to estimate and compare the driving cost among the shortest and the fastest routes for a given PHEV, and then recommend the driver with the more economical one. We evaluate the two-phase framework using 8 different PHEVs simulated in Matlab/Simulink, and the real-world datasets consisting of the road network, POI and GPS trajectory data generated by 559 taxis in seven days in Beijing, China. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model achieves good accuracy, with a mean cost error of less 8% when paths length is longer than 5 km. Moreover, users could save about 9% driving cost on average if driving along suggested routes in our case studies.
Semi-Automatic RECIST Labeling on CT Scans with Cascaded Convolutional Neural Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2018
Year: 2018

Response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) is the standard measurement for tumor extent to evaluate treatment responses in cancer patients. As such, RECIST annotations must be accurate. However, RECIST annotations manually labeled by radiologists require professional knowledge and are time-consuming, subjective, and prone to inconsistency among different observers. To alleviate these problems, we propose a cascaded convolutional neural network based method to semi-automatically label RECIST annotations and drastically reduce annotation time. The proposed method consists of two stages: lesion region normalization and RECIST estimation. We employ the spatial transformer network (STN) for lesion region normalization, where a localization network is designed to predict the lesion region and the transformation parameters with a multi-task learning strategy. For RECIST estimation, we adapt the stacked hourglass network (SHN), introducing a relationship constraint loss to improve the estimation precision. STN and SHN can both be learned in an end-to-end fashion. We train our system on the DeepLesion dataset, obtaining a consensus model trained on RECIST annotations performed by multiple radiologists over a multi-year period. Importantly, when judged against the inter-reader variability of two additional radiologist raters, our system performs more stably and with less variability, suggesting that RECIST annotations can be reliably obtained with reduced labor and time.
FLIT-level InfiniBand network simulations of the DAQ system of the LHCb experiment for Run-3
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2018
Year: 2018

The LHCb (Large Hadron Collider beauty) experiment is designed to study differences between particles and anti-particles as well as very rare decays in the charm and beauty sector at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). The detector will be upgraded in 2019 and a new trigger-less readout system will be implemented in order to significantly increase its efficiency and take advantage of the increased machine luminosity. In the upgraded system, both event building and event filtering will be performed in software for all the data produced in every bunch-crossing of the LHC. In order to transport the full data rate of 32 Tb/s we will use custom FPGA readout boards (PCIe40) and state of the art off-the-shelf network technologies. The full event building system will require around 500 nodes interconnected together. From a networking point of view, event building traffic has an all-to-all pattern, therefore it tends to create high network congestion. In order to maximize the link utilization different techniques can be adopted in various areas like traffic shaping, network topology and routing optimization. The size of the system makes it very difficult to test at production scale, before the actual procurement. We resort therefore to network simulations as a powerful tool for finding the optimal configuration. We will present an accurate low level description of an InfiniBand based network with event building like traffic. We will show comparison between simulated and real systems and how changes in the input parameters affect performances.
Many-Goals Reinforcement Learning
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2018
Year: 2018

All-goals updating exploits the off-policy nature of Q-learning to update all possible goals an agent could have from each transition in the world, and was introduced into Reinforcement Learning (RL) by Kaelbling (1993). In prior work this was mostly explored in small-state RL problems that allowed tabular representations and where all possible goals could be explicitly enumerated and learned separately. In this paper we empirically explore 3 different extensions of the idea of updating many (instead of all) goals in the context of RL with deep neural networks (or DeepRL for short). First, in a direct adaptation of Kaelbling's approach we explore if many-goals updating can be used to achieve mastery in non-tabular visual-observation domains. Second, we explore whether many-goals updating can be used to pre-train a network to subsequently learn faster and better on a single main task of interest. Third, we explore whether many-goals updating can be used to provide auxiliary task updates in training a network to learn faster and better on a single main task of interest. We provide comparisons to baselines for each of the 3 extensions.
Accuracy-based Curriculum Learning in Deep Reinforcement Learning
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2018
Year: 2018

In this paper, we investigate a new form of automated curriculum learning based on adaptive selection of accuracy requirements, called accuracy-based curriculum learning. Using a reinforcement learning agent based on the Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient algorithm and addressing the Reacher environment, we first show that an agent trained with various accuracy requirements sampled randomly learns more efficiently than when asked to be very accurate at all times. Then we show that adaptive selection of accuracy requirements, based on a local measure of competence progress, automatically generates a curriculum where difficulty progressively increases, resulting in a better learning efficiency than sampling randomly.
Adaptive Zone-2 Distance Protection Scheme for Multi-Terminal Line Connecting Wind Farm
Venue: arXiv cs.SY 2018
Year: 2018

Wind energy is one of the fastest growing renewable sources in the world that converts wind power into the electricity through wind farms. Stochastic nature of the wind power makes interconnection of wind farms to the grid unreliable. Thus, in order to enhance the system stability, it is important to protect different parts of the power system specifically transmission lines. Since distance relays are the primary devices in the protection of lines, adjusting their setting is a crucial issue in terms of mitigating the rate of disruption and increasing the overall stability. In this paper, the impact of wind speed variation in the second zone of the distance relay has been studied. To monitor distance relay operation part of a power system is simulated in PSCAD/EMTDC. Then, an adaptive Technique is proposed to coordinate zone-2 operation in accordance to other zones and prevent over/under reach. This method is based on the Neural Network in MATLAB Simulink to adjust the second zone automatically due to occurring instantaneous changes in the grid.
Evotype: Towards the Evolution of Type Stencils
Venue: arXiv cs.NE 2018
Year: 2018

Typefaces are an essential resource employed by graphic designers. The increasing demand for innovative type design work increases the need for good technological means to assist the designer in the creation of a typeface. We present an evolutionary computation approach for the generation of type stencils to draw coherent glyphs for different characters. The proposed system employs a Genetic Algorithm to evolve populations of type stencils. The evaluation of each candidate stencil uses a hill climbing algorithm to search the best configurations to draw the target glyphs. We study the interplay between legibility, coherence and expressiveness, and show how our framework can be used in practice.
Syn2Real: A New Benchmark forSynthetic-to-Real Visual Domain Adaptation
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2018
Year: 2018

Unsupervised transfer of object recognition models from synthetic to real data is an important problem with many potential applications. The challenge is how to "adapt" a model trained on simulated images so that it performs well on real-world data without any additional supervision. Unfortunately, current benchmarks for this problem are limited in size and task diversity. In this paper, we present a new large-scale benchmark called Syn2Real, which consists of a synthetic domain rendered from 3D object models and two real-image domains containing the same object categories. We define three related tasks on this benchmark: closed-set object classification, open-set object classification, and object detection. Our evaluation of multiple state-of-the-art methods reveals a large gap in adaptation performance between the easier closed-set classification task and the more difficult open-set and detection tasks. We conclude that developing adaptation methods that work well across all three tasks presents a significant future challenge for syn2real domain transfer.
Simultaneous Segmentation and Classification of Bone Surfaces from Ultrasound Using a Multi-feature Guided CNN
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2018
Year: 2018

Various imaging artifacts, low signal-to-noise ratio, and bone surfaces appearing several millimeters in thickness have hindered the success of ultrasound (US) guided computer assisted orthopedic surgery procedures. In this work, a multi-feature guided convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture is proposed for simultaneous enhancement, segmentation, and classification of bone surfaces from US data. The proposed CNN consists of two main parts: a pre-enhancing net, that takes the concatenation of B-mode US scan and three filtered image features for the enhancement of bone surfaces, and a modified U-net with a classification layer. The proposed method was validated on 650 in vivo US scans collected using two US machines, by scanning knee, femur, distal radius and tibia bones. Validation, against expert annotation, achieved statistically significant improvements in segmentation of bone surfaces compared to state-of-the-art.
Theory of Machine Networks: A Case Study
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2018
Year: 2018

We propose a simplification of the Theory-of-Mind Network architecture, which focuses on modeling complex, deterministic machines as a proxy for modeling nondeterministic, conscious entities. We then validate this architecture in the context of understanding engines, which, we argue, meet the required internal and external complexity to yield meaningful abstractions.
Generating Counterfactual Explanations with Natural Language
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2018
Year: 2018

Natural language explanations of deep neural network decisions provide an intuitive way for a AI agent to articulate a reasoning process. Current textual explanations learn to discuss class discriminative features in an image. However, it is also helpful to understand which attributes might change a classification decision if present in an image (e.g., "This is not a Scarlet Tanager because it does not have black wings.") We call such textual explanations counterfactual explanations, and propose an intuitive method to generate counterfactual explanations by inspecting which evidence in an input is missing, but might contribute to a different classification decision if present in the image. To demonstrate our method we consider a fine-grained image classification task in which we take as input an image and a counterfactual class and output text which explains why the image does not belong to a counterfactual class. We then analyze our generated counterfactual explanations both qualitatively and quantitatively using proposed automatic metrics.